The games. The news. The experiences. The Orioles.

Orioles vs. Yankees 5/18/11 (although it became 5/19/11)

So as I said in yesterday’s entry that recapped the last week or so, I’ve been quite busy and dealing with health stuff and bla bla bla. I went to this game (the first of an 8 game home stand) hoping it would be a quick one. I knew it was the Yankees, but I had an exam the next morning (which I just got back from as I write this) and other things due, so I was hoping for a 3 hour game or less. Y’know, a normal game that goes until 10:00 and then I can get back home by 11. It was Bartolo Colon against Zach Britton, a matchup of two guys who can work pretty quickly (at least it wasn’t Arrieta vs. a guy like Josh Beckett or something).

Well. No. The game went on a few ticks past midnight. And here it is:

Tim and Ben were not at the game, as there was rain or something where they live, and Tim (later on) didn’t believe me still that there was no batting practice. Well, there was:

By the way, that’s Brandon Snyder in the cage. He was called up to take Cesar Izturis’ spot on the roster.

A few other regulars were there:

That’s Matt in the grey, Ed in the black.

After missing a few balls land a few rows in front of where I was and not risking ever again jumping over rows, Ed and a few other guys snatched those up, but soon after I caught a Mark Reynolds homer on the fly. Following that, I ran over to the seats down the 3B line where Brandon Snyder had hit a ball into the seats, so I found that one before the one guy anywhere near it could. On my way back, I snagged a Jake Fox HR on the fly, followed by running 2 sections towards the foul pole to snag a Brandon Snyder HR that landed in the aisle (barely beating out some guy with a glove but in full formal attire. Odd.). That was it for me.

I went over to try for a Yankee tossup:

But no luck. And nothing else. Like a bajillion teenagers invaded the outfield from some bus trip, and it was just impossible. Matt caught one on the fly during Yankees BP over some people, but that was it. It was rough. No ground rule doubles off the warning track or anything.

And after Tom asked me for a ball to give away to a kid, I took a picture of the 3 remaining:

The Orioles wished Brooks Robinson a happy birthday (p.s. it was Reggie Jackson’s birthday as well):

I did a good deed when I went to the box office to get tickets for Saturday; a soldier in full uniform was there buying ticket’s to Thursday’s (today’s) game against the Yankees (prime game ticket prices are so much more than non-prime). Being a season ticket holder, I tapped on his shoulder, asked him if I could intervene, and told the box office employee to put them on my account and gave him my card. In the end, after helping him also pick out seats that he liked best, I had saved him $66. He bought two seats for $32 each that without my card would have been $65 each. So he actually saved a dollar on one ticket and got another free, basically. He thanked me profusely and went on his way. These are the little things a person can do to be kind, and it didn’t take all the effort in the world. God bless the soldiers.

And then the game was under way.

And the game kept going.

And going.

And going.

Soon enough, it was 1-1 and the start of extra innings. To make matters worse, Matt and I were in left field and there were no home runs to be seen. But maybe a walk off soon?

No.

The game just kept going.

I had places to be and things to do and an early day ahead of me.

But the game didn’t want to end.

Soon enough, it was the 14th inning:

And I went over to the MASN set to talk to my friend Joe Pappa[something]. He’s hilarious. If you ever meet Joe at a game (he works for MASN), tell him I say hey. He’s the man.

And it kept going:

By the way, the Orioles had the bases loaded twice in extras. They had men in scoring position with less than two outs multiple times. It was just sad.

In the top of the 15th, Mike Gonzalez was brought on to relieve Jeremy Accardo who had left two men on (but credit to Accardo, he had pitched two innings to that point also and was keeping the O’s in it). Facing Robinson Cano, it was a lefty-lefty matchup and all and… BAM. Cano doubled. Jones bobbled the ball in the right-center gap, and Cano went to 3rd. Yankees up 3-1.

Oh, by the way, also: Mike Gonzalez was the last pitcher the Orioles had in the bullpen. There was nobody left:

The man sitting there is bullpen coach Rick Adair.

So you would think Gonzalez has to pitch the O’s out of this? Well, just in case, the next day’s starter, Jeremy Guthrie, came to the bullpen to toss a bit JUST IN CASE:

Mike Gonzalez hit Yankees scrappy outfielder Chris Dickerson (a fill-in) in the head. Straight shot. Though post-game he said it wasn’t intentional, and it doesn’t look that way… Gonzalez was thrown out immediately.

Reminder: he was the last pitcher.

If you watch that highlight, you even hear the broadcaster say “They don’t have any other pitchers!”

Woohoo.

Guthrie took his hoodie off, and here goes:

People didn’t know what to do on the field:

Guthrie was doing some long toss from the batter’s eye, as he usually does on game day when he STARTS:

And continued that out on the field (you can see him throwing from behind the mound):

Guthrie got Gardner to pop out (though Cano scored on the sacrifice) and then another fly out and ground out. The O’s came up and got two men on, Brandon Snyder failed a dodging a Matt Wieters potentially loading up the bases single, and Hardy popped out to end the game.

29 left on base in the game between the two teams. Pathetic.

Here’sthe box score, if you really want to see the madness. 7 at bats for multiple guys.

Then the Orioles messed up at announcing the next game. Why? Well, it was already past midnight. So, the game was technically “today”:

And I got home by 2 or so, studied, got a few hours of shuteye, and here we are.

And I had this waiting on my Facebook wall when I got home from my friend Aaron:

As he says, I can add my own issues. While I have many, they will come across through my writing on Baltimore Sports Report or Orioles-Nation (or both) soon enough when I am back to posting there, so will link and let you all know. But props to Aaron for the thoughts. Agree with them or not, the feeling of frustration in his post is something felt by all O’s fans at this point.

Off to nap, then another game tonight. As Adam Jones would tweet: #LEGGO

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